Who would have believed it? Singing a song can make a river yours. Plus give you a chunk of a power company and a say over how that company’s run.

Well, that’s what the Waitangi Tribunal says.

It’s not quite enough to just sing a song. You should also know the river’s taniwha and use the river to wash away spells and curses. But the clincher is to recognise the river’s life force. Then it’s yours.

I am not making this up. These are the indicators that the tribunal says prove customary ownership of the country’s rivers and lakes. The tribunal concludes that New Zealand’s water systems, including beds, banks, water and aquatic life, are possessed by Maori. They say the closest English cultural equivalent to Maori customary rights is full ownership. The tribunal declares that Maori have rights of exclusive access and control of the water.

That is, Maori can decide who can and can’t use water.

Which is precisely why the government should ignore the Tribunal and get on with its programme. they can do this by applying a statute of limitations of sorts:

I am all for property rights. They should be recognised and upheld. Property rights are essential to a peaceful, prosperous society.

But property rights must be certain and stable. There are no property rights where they are endlessly litigated. That’s why the Romans had a statute of limitations. It wasn’t possible under Roman law to go back to the dim, dark days to contest ownership.

So, too, with early English law. The cut-off date for claims of adverse possession was the day in 1135 when Henry I died. That date was then shifted forward to the coronation of Henry II in 1154. And so on.

The 1540 Act of Limitation prescribed a 60-year period for property claims. It makes sense. The statute of limitations serves to ensure certainty. Otherwise every piece of land and resource is open to endless claim and counter-claim. There is then no certainty or security and therefore no property rights.

It’s not possible to trace legitimate possession in an unbroken chain of legitimate transactions back to the original owners for any piece of land or enduring property. Human history has been too violent and untidy to do so. Hence the need for an arbitrary cut-off date.

But here we are in New Zealand with the tribunal reaching back to the dim, dark days to establish ownership. In doing so it tosses property rights in the air and and stretches our understanding of the past. It creates costly uncertainty and pits neighbour against neighbour as property rights are contested again and again.

The tribunal appears to have no grasp or comprehension of the cost and conflict it is inflicting on New Zealand.

The difficulty of reaching back to 1840 is made all the worse by Maori back then having no legal system, no concept of ownership, and having just endured 30-plus years of inter-tribal warfare that rewrote traditional hapu and tribal boundaries.

Precisely…

The Roman and English legal systems that declare “possession is nine-tenths of the law” and “finders-keepers” may seem arbitrary and unfair for those on the wrong side of the cut-off date. But it sure beats the pre-1840 system. The tribunal’s happy-clappy view of pre-European property rights is a historical lie.

Song-singing and taniwha-spotting were no defence against a rampaging Hongi Hika or Te Rauparaha. Back then, it was “might makes right”.

A Maori could own only what he could grab – and hang on to. And that never included a river.

Especially when 99% of it is made up on the cuff and he rest fuzzy distant memories.
The treaty outlived its usefulness 5 minutes after it was written and has no relevance in Modern New Zealand and should be consigned to the waste bin.

Along with race based parliamentary seats.

MrV

I would like to see Rodney opine on the supercity … a retrospective …

AnonWgtn

But I leave water on the sacred ground – is that right ?
But I pass it through my kidney’s first.

Busman

Im surprised whale that comment is lite on this one , i have had a gutsfull of this gravy train called NZ taxpayer , we need to start being a bit more vocal especially to our children and grandchildren , enough is enough and this is why i believe a large majority of people are leaving NZ , as long as we have the treaty industry we will never get ahead , it is just a fucking rort to the hardworking kiwi , Maori need a reality check .
Be vocal be heard